Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of treating compounds such as chemical or organic compounds or species, or micro-organisms.
Description of the Related Art
Unwanted chemical compounds are frequently found in water which has been polluted by, for example, volatile compounds such as hydrocarbons or chlorinated compounds (for example, trichloroethylene) or by not very volatile compounds such as PCBs (polychlorobiphenyl), PCPs (pentachlorophenol) used as fungicides or certain molecules which are considered as endocrine disrupters. These bodies are usually carcinogenic and can cause illness in animals and humans.
These unwanted bodies are currently destroyed or transferred using a number of techniques including activated carbon adsorption, thermolysis, electrolytic reduction, ultraviolet irradiation or oxidation by chemical compounds such as ozone, peroxide or Fenton's reagent. Some treatments combine several of these basic methods. In all cases, the methods are expensive and awkward to implement.
The water can also contain living micro-organisms such as bacteria or microscopic algae. It is often desirable to destroy them to avoid pathological effects. Techniques equivalent to those used for chemical compounds are used for this destruction, for example sterilization using chloride or peroxide or ultraviolet irradiation.
To carry out some treatments, it has also been proposed to use ultrasonic waves emitted into liquids which are to be treated and/or to use cavitation inside the liquids which are to be treated and flowing in Venturi tubes or in equivalent axial-flow tubes. Such arrangements are described in the documents EP 1 738 775, US 2007/0280861, W02005/028375.
The documents U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,749,650, 5,899,564 and US 2006/256645 describe treatment devices in which the liquid passes radially through annular micro-slits formed between axially superposed and axially adjustable rings. The liquid escapes through the slits, forming radial jets which are dispersed in large peripheral evacuation spaces, these jets causing turbulence in these spaces without any cavitation pocket being formed.
The document U.S. Pat. No. 6,200,486 describes a device which comprises an inner cylindrical wall having orifices and an outer cylindrical wall, which form a large space between them. As in the documents referred to in the paragraph above, the flow at the outlet of the orifices is in the form of jets in this large space.
The document U.S. Pat. No. 4,585,357 describes a device which comprises a radial micro-slit opposite which a deflecting wall is installed at a great distance. Here too, the flow through the slit causes dispersion jets.
The document JP 11 42432 describes a device in which two opposite flows collide. The resultant flow flows away radially and is discharged into a peripheral evacuation chamber, here too in the form of dispersion jets.
The document DE 3728946 describes a device in which an axial flow is deflected toward a radial chamber which has a peripheral opening. This chamber is in the shape of a truncated cone and formed such that its thickness reduces in the direction of the outside. Turbulence phenomena occur only beyond the peripheral opening of the radial chamber, in the large evacuation chamber.
The document JP 2008/207099 describes a device in which the liquid is introduced axially into a blind hole and is evacuated through divergent radial channels in the shape of truncated cones which are formed in the wall of the blind hole, at a distance from the base. In fact a Venturi-type mode of operation occurs in each divergent radial channel in the shape of a truncated cone, axially thereto.